Dino Crisis features a game system similar to the Resident Evil titles that were previously released. The player controls Regina, a member of the special forces team that is sent to investigate an isolated military facility that became infested with time-displaced dinosaurs as a result of a top-secret experiment. Because the enemies in the game are dinosaurs rather than undead creatures, Capcom promoted Dino Crisis as a "survival panic" in contrast to Resident Evil's survival horror label.

Unlike Resident Evil, which featured polygonal characters and

objects superimposed over prerendered backgrounds, the main graphics in Dino Crisis are fully polygonal, although the camera follows the player from fixed angles much like in Resident Evil.

The player's actions are also performed similarly toResident Evil, with differences such as being able to aim a gun and move at the same time, while quick turning is assigned to a specific button. Other differences include tranquilizer rounds that can be used in place of live ammunition for certain weapons and the use of hemostats in order to prevent Regina's injuries from leaving a trail of blood that can be smelled by predators if her injuries are left

untreated.

Regina can also use several laser shutters scattered throughout the facility to prevent the dinosaurs from following her.

There are also "danger events" in which the player must fend off a dinosaur attacking Regina by rapidly pressing any of the action buttons.
While key items (including weapons) can be obtained indefinitely,

Regina's carrying capacity for ammo and health supplies is limited and any leftover supplies must be stored inside "emergency boxes" if the player wishes to have room available for further supplies. Unlike the item boxes in Resident Evil, the emergency boxes in Dino Crisis can only be accessed by using a certain amount of plugs required to open it. Moreover, the player can only have access to other emergency boxes remotely if they're of the same color code (red, green or yellow).

There are many puzzles to complete in order for the player to succeed. Many of the locked doors in the facility uses a D.D.K. (digital disk key) system in the which the player must decrypt the password required to gain access by inserting a code disk and an input disk. There are also many branching points in which the player must decide in which Regina must choose between the often-contrasting advices of her comrades Gail and Rick.

Plot

Story

The game takes place on a fictional location known as Ibis Island in the year 2009. The Secret Operation Raid Team (SORT) has sent an agent, Tom, to investigate a research facility. During the recon mission, he learns that Doctor Edward Kirk, a world-renowned scientist who was reported dead three years ago, is leading a secret weapons project within the facility. SORT sends four agents (Regina, Gail, Rick, and Cooper) to acquire Kirk and return him to custody.

They arrive onto the island via parachute. Cooper is blown off course and lands in a jungle. A Tyrannosaurus rex appears and chases him a short distance before eating him. The other three agents, unaware of his death, proceed with the mission.

Once inside the base, they discover the mutilated and partially devoured corpses of security personnel and scientists. Shortly thereafter, they discover that dinosaurs are the reason behind the bloodbath at the base. They evade and dispose of many dinosaurs. During this, they find Tom, badly injured. Rick takes him to the medical room, however a Velociraptor attacks them, and Tom sacrifices himself to kill it, saving Rick. Later, Regina and the team manage to locate Kirk and apprehend him. As they are preparing to leave via helicopter, the T-Rex returns and destroys the helicopter, forcing them to flee back into the base. Kirk escapes them during this time. After the T-Rex manages to enter the base after killing three survivors in the elevator, Regina and Rick locate keys to a watercraft, but find a vortex in the way of getting to it. Regina enters a passageway and is held up by Kirk. He is about to kill her when the gun is shot out of his hand by Gail, and they arrest him again.

Kirk reveals that the dinosaurs were brought to their time by an experiment he was running using his Third Energy technology. A rift in space was created and a pocket of the island from their time was exchanged with the same from the past, bringing dinosaurs back into their time. Kirk then tells them that if the reactors are set to overload, the energy coming from them and the vortex should cancel each other out if they come into contact. After Regina gets the stabilizer and initializer and uses them to overload the reactors, the energy shakes the base, causing a vent to fall on Gail allowing Kirk to escape again. Regina, Gail and Rick get to the control room branching off to the waterway to escape, but Gail says they still need to get Kirk. He starts to hobble away on his gun to go after Kirk, and orders Regina and Rick to leave without him if he does not return in thirty minutes. Rick orders Regina to do something, and she is given a choice, go after Kirk with Gail or escape with Rick, and the story takes one of three endings.

Endings

There are three possible endings based on choices made by the player. Near the end of the game, the player has the option to either go after Kirk or find their way off of the island.

The first ending (chase Kirk) results in Regina and Gail capturing Kirk. As a twist, Gail reveals that the whole mission was a front and the government did not want Kirk, but instead wanted the Third Energy to use in warfare. Gail gives Regina a disk containing all the data on the Third Energy. Shortly afterward, Gail dies from injuries suffered when the vent fell on him. Regina, Rick, and Kirk, during their departure in a watercraft, battle with the T-Rex. Regina kills it using a remote explosive, and they escape.

The second ending (escape the island) results in Regina, Gail, and Rick escaping without Kirk. During the final battle, Rick fires a rocket from a watercraft. The rocket hits a fuel tank, causing a massive overload in the Third Energy generator and completely disintegrating a portion of Ibis Island in the process killing the T-Rex and all of the other dinosaurs. The three agents escape safely, but the status of Kirk is unknown.

The third ending can be achieved by choosing to leave Kirk, but actually going after him. It can also be achieved by going after Kirk, but first finding the helicopter. Regina and Gail locate Kirk in ahangar, preparing a helicopter to escape in (which becomes their only way of escape because the T-Rex destroyed the hovercraft while she chased Kirk). Regina knocks Kirk out, and informs Rick of the situation. The T-Rex chases Rick to Regina's location. Then Regina, Gail and Rick board the helicopter and flee. During their escape, Rick drops a bomb from the helicopter onto the dinosaur, killing it. All three agents get out alive with Kirk.